BY EVAN BAYH (Democrat former governor and U.S Senator writing in the Wall Street Journal, Friday, September 28, 2012)
The Supreme Court decision in June upholding the Affordable Care Act leaves in place a tax on medical devices that threatens thousands of American jobs and our global competitiveness. It will also stifle critical medical innovation in the industry that gave us defibrillators, pacemakers, artificial joints, stents, chemotherapy delivery systems and almost every device we depend on to save lives.
Incidentally, the thousands of jobs that will be lost under this new tax are jobs that average $58,000 a year. The national average for all jobs in the country is $41,673.
So we lose jobs, medical improvements and push U.S. companies to move production overseas.What kind of insanity is this and what is the goal here? The more we learn about Obamacare the worse it gets for this country.
Another article from September 28th commented that while Obamacare was supposed to save citizens money it is becoming quite clear it is going to do just the opposite. And the new regulations are going to be a bureaucratic nightmare which will also translate into higher costs just to handle them. It additionally said that the biggest burden will fall upon the middle class.
The Supreme Court decision in June upholding the Affordable Care Act leaves in place a tax on medical devices that threatens thousands of American jobs and our global competitiveness. It will also stifle critical medical innovation in the industry that gave us defibrillators, pacemakers, artificial joints, stents, chemotherapy delivery systems and almost every device we depend on to save lives.
The 2.3% tax will be charged to manufacturers on each sale and takes effect in January. Many U.S. device companies, in response, have already announced layoffs, canceled plans for domestic expansion and slashed research-and-development budgets.
This is not a tax on profits but on sales. It amounts to about a 15% tax on profits. This, in addition to a 35% Corporate tax will equal a 50% income tax on profits. The U.S. imports more that we export but we export over 5 billion dollars a year in medical devices. Just think about all the devices and technology that has saved so many lives. Medical device companies who planned to build more medical facilities here in the U.S. have already begun to cancel their plans to build. Many, instead are making plans to move production overseas. They estimate that 30 billion dollars will also be taken out of research and development. What life-saving devices might not be developed because of all this?Incidentally, the thousands of jobs that will be lost under this new tax are jobs that average $58,000 a year. The national average for all jobs in the country is $41,673.
So we lose jobs, medical improvements and push U.S. companies to move production overseas.What kind of insanity is this and what is the goal here? The more we learn about Obamacare the worse it gets for this country.
Another article from September 28th commented that while Obamacare was supposed to save citizens money it is becoming quite clear it is going to do just the opposite. And the new regulations are going to be a bureaucratic nightmare which will also translate into higher costs just to handle them. It additionally said that the biggest burden will fall upon the middle class.
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